Spotify has announced a new feature called Amplify. This hub will be a destination for topics from different communities, and will feature podcasts and playlists highlighting important issues. Amplify is kicking things off with a celebration of women’s voices for March, Women’s History Month in the U.S. Future issues include gender equality, mental health, immigration and LGBTQ rights.

*This is an interesting move for Spotify. The content of the Women’s hub is fairly non-political and varied in nature, will Spotify use this platform to continue to offer this rounded, ‘politically-correct’ selection of voices and sounds, or will it begin to feature music that carries more of a message?*

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Barneys unveils VR film with Samsung and contemporary dance company

Barneys New York has launched Mantle, a VR film and experience in collaboration with New York-based Martha Graham Dance Company and Samsung as its tech and distribution partner. The film aims to blend fashion, technology and contemporary dance as it showcases dancers wearing exclusive designer looks. The experience can be viewed on Samsung headsets at various Barneys stores, as well as via the Samsung VR app and on Barneys.com.

*Innovative use of VR to bring an immersive element to the high-fashion world.*

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Snapchat adds Instagram-style mention tagging to Stories

Snapchat now lets you @-tag someone in your Story, creating a swipe up for “more” option that shows the tagged person’s name, handle, Bitmoji, and an Add button so you can follow them too. The feature could let friends mention each other in Stories, or promote their favourite influencers by making it easier for people to follow them.

*Tagging could help Snapchat better intertwine Stories and messaging, which now live within the same tab after the big redesign – it seems ironic that Snapchat which has, so far, been victim to other platforms copying its features, is now borrowing a feature from Instagram.*